Okay, well then although a good suggestion, that would put it at slightly passed the upper limit of my budget (in CAD). I was hoping it'd be possible to get a weaker graphics card in order so save some money.

While searching I happened on this laptop as well. It seems very similar to the Acer I linked and the price is near identical as well. The issue I have with this laptop is that it seems like the graphics card is more powerful than I need. If I could find a laptop with a weaker card but similar specs in the other areas, I think that would suit my needs/wallet better.

I wouldn't worry about being with Jason. If the lectures really aren't working for you, John Howit puts his on YouTube, and you can just watch those. My friend and I exclusively watched John's lectures online, and we both did well in that class. The tests, midterms and exams are all very, very similar across classes.

I think I remember that even in the very best case, a 12 point system is equal to a 100 point system in terms of accuracy of your grade. If you get 9 83%s and 1 79,% you can say bye to your scholarship because in a 12 point system, that is a 9.9gpa.

There are a variety of other point systems(University of Windsor uses a 100point system) but you'll have to look around to see for yourself.

I ended with an A+ last semester, so my description of the workload is relative to the grade I received.

The amount of time put into assignments/final project I put in was equal to all my other courses for the semester(which I received an A average in). Not trying to toot my own horn here, I just don't want you to think that I just slacked in other courses and tried really hard for this one. There is really a lot of work to do! A large portion(40%) of the work is written work(so not code related) based on general game-maker mechanics and theory.

The workload is one reason I feel many students drop out for(didn't know many people were dropping out, though). The other reason is that a lot of the kids just getting into game dev are super sensitive children that don't like when the games they submit are given a poor grade. There's a lot of complaining about TA's grading(to some justification).

Despite the workload, its really easy to get an A- in this course because the midterm/exam is super easy. You're allowed to bring in a page of notes. You can fit all the slides from this course onto one page if you ignore the fluff.

Overall, there are probably easier courses you can take than this one, but this class gives you a lot of coding practice, and if you're super passionate about game-making and are up for the challenge, do it!